IRAQ HAS NOT RESPONDED TO IRAN CONDITIONS FOR NORMALISATION.
TEHRAN 8 Jan. (IPS) The main reason for the postponement of visit of Iraqi Foreign Affairs Minister Naji Sabri to Tehran is that Iraq has so far not responded to the conditions Iran had sat for normalising relations, according to the pro-conservative English-language daily "Tehran Times".
Mr. Sabri was due to Tehran this week, but the visit was immediately opposed by more than one hundred MMs (Members of the Majles) who warned the Foreign Affairs Minister Kamal Kharrazi that if he goes along with the visit, they would impeach him.
The Iraqi Foreign Affairs Minister was in the Iranian capital last September
amidst strong denunciation by many lawmakers and aroused the anger of the
population, and left empty hands.
"The main reason for the postponement of visit of Naji Sabri to Tehran is that President Mohammad Khatami has set some preconditions for the visit, but Iraq has so far not responded", the paper quoted an unidentified source.
An Iraqi source had earlier said that this visit will took place by the end of the current month and comes at the official invitation of the Iranian Foreign Affairs Minister Kamal Kharazi.
"It is expected, however, that Kharazzi will discuss during his (Sabri’s) presence in Tehran on several issues, foremost being the closure of the file of the Iraqi- Iranian war prisoners and missing and closing the file of the Iraqi civil and military planes deposited in Iran since the end of 1990", the source had added, referring to the planes, both fighter jets and passenger planes Iraq had sent to Iran to save them from being destroyed by the Allied forces during the 1990 Persian Gulf War.
But according to Tehran Times, the conditions Khatami has put forth include: Iraq must once again officially announces its commitment to the Algiers Treaty of 1975 (which recognises the division of the Shatel Arab border river on the Talweg principle); must announce its commitment to full implementation of the UN Resolution 598 and pay war indemnities to Iran (which amounts to some 100 billions of US Dollars); must apologize to the Iranian nation for imposing an eight-year war on Iran; and must release all Iranian POWs - those registered and those kept in Iraq but considered missing in action.
Iraqi President Saddam Hoseyn had torn apart the Agreement he had concluded in the Algerian Capital in 1975 with the late Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi in front of television camera as he was ordering his forces to invade Iran in September 1980.
The "imposed" war lasted eight years and cost Iran three millions dead, and disabled, many of them by the use of chemical and biological arms as well as the destruction of hundreds of towns and villages and the country’s infrastructures, including the huge Abadan refinery, the largest in the Middle East.
The two sides accepted a United Nations brokered cease-fire in 1988, but so far Iraq has refused to pay Iran war damages and compensations ordered by the UN’s Security Council.
"President Khatami has instructed Vice president for Parliamentary and Legal affairs Mohammad Ali Abtahi to agree with the trip of Sabri to Iran only if all conditions of Iran are fulfilled", the source said speaking on the condition of anonymity. The said conditions were put forth during Naji's previous visit to Tehran but Iraq has not taken any measure in this regard.
The ministry decided to send a delegation to Baghdad to remind the Iraqi authorities on the Iranian preconditions while postponing Sabri’s visit till those conditions are fulfilled, the paper added.
"Following the said developments, the Parliament cancelled the impeachment of Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi. However, some MMs announced that they would not withdraw until achieving their objectives that is protecting national interests.
"In this sensitive situation, and as the count-down to the end of Saddam's regime has started, and following protests from deputies, Naji Sabri's visit was cancelled", the independent Iranian Students News Agency ISNA had quoted Mr. Nooreddin Pirmo'azzen as having announced on Tuesday.
However, an unidentified MM has told Tehran Times that if Saddam complies with Iran's conditions, "ties will be resumed with Baghdad". ENDS SABRI VISIT CANCELLED 8103